Competitive Research Programme (CRP)

Enabling the Next Wave of Ultra Low Power Nano-Systems: Heterogeneous Integration of Low Power Electronics with High Performance Photonics

PI: Prof. Yoon Soon Fatt, NTU

Co-PI: Prof. Liang Gengchiau, Albert, NUS

Higher bandwidth and processing speed... at lower power and cost

With traditional microelectronics struggling to cope with the electronics market’s ever-growing demands – including the need for power-aware electronics that can help reduce carbon emissions – NTU and NUS researchers are exploring monolithic III-V/Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) as the new model for achieving higher processing speeds and bandwidth at ultra-low power consumption.

Continued size reduction of the field-effect transistors (FET) found on integrated circuits (IC) have allowed for exponential increases in the speed, efficiency and processing power of electronic devices. But transistor scaling has neared its physical limits, causing a slowdown in device-scaling trends. In addition, transistor miniaturization creates unwanted effects including significant increases in power consumption and heat dissipation. This CRP team believes that the solution to this problem lies in the use of high electron/hole mobility III-V compound semiconductors as the channel material.

Hence, NTU’s Prof Yoon Soon Fatt and his Co-PI, NUS’ Prof Albert Liang Gengchiau, are tackling the issue by looking at technologies to fabricate band-engineered FET based on III-V compound semiconductors on a Si platform and to monolithically integrate a III-V laser with the Si technology platform. They have succeeded in demonstrating the world’s first III-V nanowire CMOS on Si substrate using GaSb and InAs channels for p-MOS and n-MOS, respectively, as well as the world’s first III-V laser on Si-based (GeOI) substrate measured at pulsed mode.